Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of electronic information storage and retrieval.
Background of the Invention
Electronic information is created, stored and accessed by users, organizations and other entities on a wide range of electronic devices. This information is often sensitive in nature with financial data, private images or recordings, personal correspondence, copyrighted material, legal documents, sensitive data bases, and proprietary designs as just a few examples. In many cases it is desirable to move, copy or backup this electronic information in order to provide redundancy, release storage space on a given device, facilitate access on other devices or to selectively share the information. Various combinations of methods, devices and systems are used for these purposes including the following prior art examples:
Local Persistent Storage wherein copies of the electronic information are placed on storage co-located with and directly connected to the device upon which the electronic information currently resides. An example of this might be a secondary local fixed storage drive, a removable storage drive or a nearby directly connected drive.
Remote Storage such as Network Attached Storage (“NAS”), Storage Area Networks (“SAN”) or Storage Service Provider (“SSP”) storage solutions wherein storage is physically removed from the accessing device and is connected through a dedicated connection or through a virtual connection on a private or public network. Examples of this include a NAS device on the same local area network, multiple storage devices accessed over a virtual private network or a SSP solution that may be geographically distant with an unspecified location accessed over a public network.
Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive/Independent Disks/Devices (“RAID”) wherein interrelated electronic information is distributed across multiple physical or logical storage devices in a systematic fashion in order to provide some combination of fault tolerance, improved performance, increase capacity or other desirable characteristics. RAID concepts are implemented in hardware, software or a combination of the two and are applied to local storage devices, remote storage or a combination thereof. Prior art extends to the implementation of RAID concepts across multiple SSPs.
Shared Communal Storage wherein interrelated electronic information is stored across a dynamic group of physical or logical devices registered with a storage community in order to share storage space. A Shared Communal Storage implementation may provide the benefits of a RAID implementation such as fault tolerance and improved performance and may leverage many RAID like concepts.
Tiered Storage wherein electronic information is stored across storage solutions with different characteristics such as performance, reliability, capacity and geographic location. Specific electronic information is selectively stored across these storage solutions based on the nature of the information; e.g., some information may be accessed or updated often, some information may be required to physically reside in a certain country due to information sovereignty requirements and some information may require a significant amount of storage space.
Electronic Information Encryption wherein stored electronic information is converted into a cypher in order to impede unauthorized access. This conversion may occur on the originating device, during transmission or during the storage process and may be accomplished via software, hardware or a combination of the two.
In practice the above prior art is often used in combination. For example, a SSP may provide remote storage that is physically housed on a RAID storage solution and is accessed through software that facilitates encryption of electronic information prior to its transmission across a public network to the SSP's facilities.
Various implementations of the above prior art have facilitated the backup, storage and sharing of information globally across a wide range of devices and have delivered tremendous value and utility to individuals and organizations. With the availability of inexpensive network and internet connected storage devices and low cost SSP offerings, individuals and organizations that might not be able to afford or manage a globally accessible storage solution have relatively simple and cost effective options.